Staff

To request a member of The Phoenix Project staff as a speaker for an event, in your classroom, or on your radio or television show, please click here.

The Phoenix Project benefits from the contributions of many part-time staff, including the residential staff and clinical faculty of our summer Nonprofit Leadership Program and paid interns throughout Virginia year-round. To inquire about internships or other positions with the Phoenix Project, please email us at info@phoenixproject.org.

Greg Werkheiser
Founding Executive Director

Greg Werkheiser is a leadership educator, social entrepreneur, lawyer and speechwriter.  He cofounded The Phoenix Project, a statewide movement to battle poverty in Virginia by creating a partnership between Virginia's institutions of higher education and the Commonwealth's most economically distressed communities and employing the context of that partnership to prepare our next generation of nonprofit leaders and social entrepreneurs.  The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has recognized Mr. Werkheiser as one of the nation's leading civic educators, extensively documenting his work in the recently published Educating for Democracy: Preparing Undergraduates for Responsible Political Engagement.  He founded and directed for seven years the bipartisan Virginia Citizenship Institute, later merged with the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia, which over the last decade has prepared hundreds of young Virginians to be more informed, thoughtful and engaged citizens.  Mr. Werkheiser is a contributing author to The Civic Mission of Schools, the seminal work laying out a national strategy for improving civic education in America's schools, now being pursued by eighteen states.  By appointment of Governor Mark Warner, he chaired the Virginia Commission for National and Community Service, the body charged with overseeing AmeriCorps and other federal and state service initiatives.

A graduate of the College of William & Mary and the University of Virginia School of Law, Mr. Werkheiser represented law clients in federal and state courts and was named Pro bono Attorney of the Year for his precedent-setting work on behalf of Native American tribes.

Mr. Werkheiser has served as a speechwriter to a President and First Lady of the United States and a Governor of Virginia.  He also served in the American embassy in Paris with the late Ambassador Pamela Harriman and for the United States Information Agency.  In his 2005 candidacy for the House of Delegates to represent his community of southern Fairfax County, he secured 48.2% of the vote and the endorsement of the Washington Post.  Mr. Werkheiser founded the 120,000 member Virginia Student Coalition to advocate for greater investment in public colleges and universities in the 1990s and guided the next generation of student advocates in their founding of Virginia 21.  He has lectured at fourteen Virginia universities and taught government at George Mason University.

Marion ForsythMarion Forsyth Werkheiser
Founding Associate Director

Ms. Werkheiser has worked as an attorney, educator and nonprofit director. She has edited several legal volumes published for both students and practitioners and teaches as an adjunct professor at the College of William and Mary School of Law. Ms. Werkheiser previously practiced corporate and regulatory law with a private firm in Washington, D.C. and served as a legal fellow in the office of U.S. Senator Evan Bayh. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Indiana University, where she studied political science and classical art as a Wells Scholar. She earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she focused her studies on community organizing and critical theories of social change.

David CarterDavid Carter
Director of Programs and General Counsel

David Carter served on the board of directors for the Phoenix Project prior to becoming Director of Programs and General Counsel in January 2008. He practiced law as an associate in the business litigation practice of the law firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, in Washington, D.C. where he represented a variety of Fortune 100 companies and national and international telecommunication companies in a variety of litigation and regulatory matters.  He previously served as the Director of Youth Programs for the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia, where he co-founded the High School Leadership Program. During law school, he served as a government and corporate relations fellow for William & Mary's Courtroom 21 Project, the world’s most technologically advanced courtroom. During his tenure, the Courtroom 21 Project received over $1 million in increased funding support from the United States Department of Justice. Mr. Carter also led the launch of the Center for Legal and Court Technology, a nonprofit entrepreneurial research, education and consulting public service organization that seeks to improve the administration of justice through the use of technology. From 2001-2003, he served in the Washington Office of the College of William & Mary, his undergraduate and law school alma mater.


Shanice PennShanice Penn
Operations Manager

In her role as Operations Manager, Ms. Penn is responsible for administration of finances, payroll and benefits as well as implementation and management of office procedures, systems, and technology. She also supports development efforts and provides assistance with program planning and logistics. A graduate of the first class of the Virginia Citizenship Institute (VCI), now the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia, Ms. Penn has several years experience providing administrative and programming support. While a student at Mary Baldwin College, she created, developed and facilitated multicultural student programming and assisted in the formation of a number of student organizations geared towards building relationships with the Staunton community through service and multicultural education. Prior to joining the Phoenix Project, Ms. Penn worked as an immigration paralegal at a top international law firm in Washington, D.C. and as an immigration consultant to one of the nation’s top three retail chain pharmacies. She graduated from Mary Baldwin College with a B.A. in Political Science.

The Phoenix Project Fellows (Spring 2008)

  • Jennifer Bacon
    Jennifer attends the William and Mary School of Law where she is a second-year student. 
  • Jamie Poniatowski
    Jamie attends John Tyler Community College and is majoring in Human Services Social Work.
  • Andrew "Drew" Shellnutt
    Drew is a senior at George Mason University, where he is president of the Student Government. He is majoring in Government and International Politics and Psychology. 
  • Purcella Smith
    Purcella Smith is a sophomore at George Mason University majoring in Government.  She hails from Salem, Virginia. 
  • Shukita L. Whitaker
    Shukita is a law student at the William and Mary School of Law. She will be graduating this May.
  • Audrey Whitham
    Audrey is a senior at George Mason University. She is studying graphic design.